


The daily lives of those four

by Hyphen1582



Series: Chozasposting [3]
Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Fodlansona, OC
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-15
Updated: 2020-12-08
Packaged: 2021-03-04 07:40:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 32
Words: 21,500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24729856
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hyphen1582/pseuds/Hyphen1582
Summary: *Fodlansonas*Daily life situations for the Fodlansonas inspired by different prompts.Short stories or long ones, depending on the prompt
Series: Chozasposting [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1648936
Comments: 43
Kudos: 14





	1. Ranchos

**Author's Note:**

> This work includes Fodlansonas, it is meant to entratain my group of friends featured here and myself; but if others like it, well, that's a plus.

“Do you think they hate me?” Byrd asked her friends in the scream filled corridor while looking at the net in her hands.

”Well... I’m not them but-“ Andrea answered her but was interrupted by Margaret. 

  
“You filled their entire room with spiders.”

As if entering on queue, different screams and laughs filled the silence between the four of them.

”Ahhhhhhhh help me!” Hilda’s voice could be heard loud enough in the corridor even tough she was in the first floor along with Claude’s somewhat panicked laugh.

Loud but fast stomps could be heard under Lorenz’s room, clearly panicked.

While downstairs Leonie was trying to get out of her room to get to help the others who were just screaming frantically.

So much noise filled dormitory that other students get out of their rooms as well to see what was going on.

Yet between the group of four reign a certain calm aura.

“I thought they said they liked them” Said Byrd followed with a sign as she used her net as a cane.

“They don’t.” Martha took the net quickly and throw it out of the window before any profesor could see it.   
  
  


“Is too bad not all my friends can see how magnificent you are” Byrd said to a tarantula in her hands


	2. I’ve heard things...

They were waiting there for a bit but still not a single hair of the other was in sight.

Hyphen broke the silence while sitting in a nearby barrel

“ You think Byrd and Margaret will show up?” 

  
Andrea as always, seem to have an answered prepared

“I heard they got into quite a bit of trouble…” She said as tilting her head as to trying to remember something.   
  


“Why?” The other girl asked back while tilting a little forward as to be sure she payed more attention to her friend

Andrea closed her eyes still trying to remember 

“I’m not sure but I heard Lady Edelgard said something about how Seteth found students last night in the teacher’s building acting suspicious”

”Huh...” Hyphen let out “more like they were planning something”

”I’m just so mad at them” Andy said distracting Hyphen from her thoughts “Why didn’t they invited us too?! I bet it was fun”

”Who knows....”

Needles to say Andy scolded the other two for leaving her out of the adventure this time.   
  


It seems those two won’t be able to catch a break today. 


	3. What if I fake it?

“You go Andy!” Magy said happy.

”N-no! It wasn’t like that, it was a mistake!” Andy said blushing.

”Then what happened?” Martha asked

”I was just walking with Lady Edelgard to the sparing field after chorus practice when....” Andy mumbled the rest of the sentence.

”Speak up, damn it! I wanna know!” Magy said

Blushing more, Andy repeated herself “When we were crossing the bridge I turned to her and my brain told her she was beautiful! Without my consent! So I ran” She covered her face with her hands 

“And now you want to fake your death?!” Byrd asked 

“Of course! How will I ever see her eye to eye after that?!” Andy let out so quick she almost bit herself.   
  


“I’ll have none of that bullshit, go tell her that again!” Byrd was pushing Andy towards the practice field

”No!!! I’m not ready yet! I want to go back to the fake death plan!!”


	4. You Are My Dad (Boogie Woogie Woogie)

She was at it again, again with another hyperfixiation in mind.

Lucky for her, their profesor gave everyone the freedom to study anything they wanted in the library for that day’s class.

The Blue Lions were spread across the library’s tables, each doing their own thing and Martha was not exception, focusing so much in her book.

  
Walking with her class, Byrd spotted Hyphen reading from the door and stopped looking at the room.

”Whats wrong?” Asked Hilda

With a mischievous smile she told her friend “Watch this”   


  
  
Entering the library as quietly as possible, she reached her target.

“Hey” Byrd said in a low voice but still got the attention of those who were near, but not the one she wanted

“Hey Hyphen” she asked again, the smile not leaving her face and looking at Hilda to see if she still had her attention.

“Hey mom, can I hang out with Hilda tonight?” 

“Ask your dad” Martha answered like she was in autopilot while turning the page of her book 

Looking just in front of her Byrd said in a slightly louder tone “Ok... Hey Dimitri, can I hang out with Hilda tonight?”

”What? Dad?” Was all Dimitri could said before he was interrupted by Byrd’s laugh and screams from Martha.   
  


Byrd ran as fast as she could outside the room.   
  


“Come back here you little...” Martha had jumped over the table and was now throwing anything that was at her hands, be it books, her sword and her own shoes 

  
“Bye mom!” Byrd said dodging all the things with Hilda behind her, both laughing. 

  
  
“What was that?” a confused Dimitri stood behind a now paralyzed Martha with object in hand and blushing by the second 


	5. Go back to sleep!

Margaret has been staying up late lately, in part to get her homework and other tasks done, in part because her night snacks had given her more sugar than she needed and had trouble getting to bed at a decent hour.

Tonight was no different, having stable duty that day had taken not only her energy way but her time as well, and she got things to do.

Taking the last bite of her sugary snack, she completed the last pages of her essay, but feeling that the sleep was still far away she sighed.

Looking at a clock she had near she realized it was still a bit “early” as the hands just pointed to the 1.

  
“I guess I have time to clean my weapons” she said as she stood up from her desk.

She was one to always wanted to do a job well done, and her weapon maintenance was not exception.

When she finally finished, she felt the tiredness coming to get her.

She took a look at the clock, 4am. Good thing that it was Saturday now, so even if she still had to do things, she could wake up late.

She put on her sleepwear and climbed to bed, finding just the right position to sleep, she closed her eyes and let out a sigh.

Just in that moment her door opened so quickly with a familiar voice that was loud enough for her.

  
“Good morning Magy! Get out of bed! Let’s go on an adventure!”

Of course it had to be Martha, who else in the entire monastery would wake up at 4 am with such great spirits? Not even the cooks that made breakfast were up that early, or late.

”Get the fuck out!” Magy said throwing one of her pillows. It was too late for her to be dealing with this.   



	6. Ice cream

"That was the last of them" Martha said shaking her hands and cleaning them in her shorts.

A pile of bodies now laying in the floor near the monastery.

"Finally!" Said Margaret putting her weapons away.

"I don't know about y'all but I could go raid the kitchen for some ice cream right now" said Martha as they were walking back to the monastery.

"Oh! and some for Räul as well" Byrd replied as she pat the wyvern.

But Andy was just twitching her eye. "We just killed that many men! And you are thinking about ice cream?!"

The three of them just shrugged

"Besides, those were criminals, weren't they?" Martha said to Andy

"I could eat a big bowl of chocolate one" Magy said almost daydreaming .

"No!" was the inmediate answer of some.

"You are not taking this seriously!" Andy complained

"What if I create a new flavor for Räul?" Byrd started daydreaming as well

"So, what flavor are you going to get, Andy?" Martha talked to Andy again

"Oh my god!" Andrea covered her face in defeat. "Maybe I'll have some then".

"YEAH!" the rest answered.

As they say, if you can not beat them, join them.


	7. Who is she talking to?

It wasn’t uncommon for Byrd to take the stable duty, everyone knew that. But what they didn’t knew is why she enjoyed it so much.

Some time had passed since the Ashen Wolves had started going up to the academy, and Caspar and Balthus immediately formed a friendly rivalry that went from athletic feasts to even being the one Byrd gave her affection to.

  
Both were walking towards the practice field and when they reached the stables they heard a familiar voice.

”It’s been so long since I’ve seen your face!” The voice said muffled by the doors and objects in the stable.

”Who’s that?” Balthus asked his friend.

Both approached the place the voice was coming from. Was it Byrd? 

”I’ve missed you so much! Let me hug you” Both heard Byrd say behind the door.

Balthus and Caspar shared a look and pressed their ears to the door to know what was going on.

”You are so handsome!”

”I’ll never get tired of you!”

”I’ll give my life for you”

All those phrases out of Byrd’s mouth, but for who?

  
”Look at them” a female voice said.

”They sure are idiots” a second voice said

”Hey, give them a chance” a third one joined 

  
The boys were so into their mission that they didn’t noticed the 3 girls.

”I love you so much!” Byrd suddenly said making the boys jump and turn around with a sight blush.

But sight was already a thing from the past, as they turned around and saw Byrd’s friends watching at them their faces turned red. 

  
“See? Idiots” one of the tree said.

”Hi guys!” Byrd said opening the door.

They saw their chance. Taking a look inside the stable they could see that no one was there. Not a single place to hide as she had just cleaned everything. So then who was she talking to?   
  


“Guys?” Byrd asked again to the boys in front of her.

“Sorry Byrd, we got things to do” said Balthus.

”Yeah, see you later Byrd” Caspar added.

Both walking away with a face that said they would not rest until they solved this mystery.

”You are right, they are idiots” One of Byrd’s friends said.

”Yeah but their heart’s in the right place.” Said another as the three waved to Byrd, who just returned the greeting. 


	8. Yes they are

It was a nice day today, no tasks in hand and the food served that day was one of her favorites. 

Andrea was sitting with her housemates, the Black Eagles and in front of her was Edelgard.   
Sharing a meal with someone you loved made it taste 10 times better!

”Oh that reminds me of that time when Margaret...” 

Andy shared the funny memory with her house leader with so excited it made the white haired girl smile

  
“Is that so? Who would have knew? And then?” Edelgard took a bite of her food 

Andy smiled and continued her story.

”After that Byrd and I started to....”

Edelgard turned her attention from Andrea to the Golden Deer table where Margaret and Byrd seem to be discussing the correct way of eating something with the rest of their table.

She returned her attention to the girl in front of her and smiled again.

”You really did that?! How come I never knew?” Edelgard now was most invested in the story and could only display an excited face.

Andrea blushed a little at this and continued “Ah... well yes, but I had help as well, you see Martha helps me with...”

Another character in the story. She turned to the Blue Lions table next and saw Martha enjoying her food while also being in a conversation about what the best cheese dish was with all the table.

Returning again her attention to the one telling the story she waited until it was over.

”You seem happy Andrea, that’s good” She said with a smile.

”Ah... What do you mean Lady Edelgard?” Andrea answered as a light pink was making it appearance in her cheeks.

“You seem to be happier than you were on the first day of the academy”

”It’s all thanks to you, the rest of the Eagles and friends”

”But it’s a bit different when you talk about them. I like that”

”Well, I guess you could say they have become my family”

Edelgard looked at Andrea with big eyes, she was waiting something among the lines of -they are my best friends- but family... that was better, even more if it makes her happier.   
  


Yes, that was good.

”I love your stories, please tell me one more” Edelgard asked with a soft expression.   
  


There it was again, that soft pink in her cheeks. “Of course! Have I told you about the time when....”

Indeed it was a nice day with no tasks in hand and a nice meal, but sharing stories with someone you loved made it 10 times better!


	9. Don't you dare

Byrd had done it again.

She used her merchant charm to get a bran new item, a board game.

Sitting in the library, the quartet was around the game. Andy, Margaret and Byrd were the ones playing, cards in hand with the preasure to roll the right number on the dice; while Martha was just watching the heat rise managing the game's bank.

"8!" Byrd said as she moved her piece around the board. "Please give me my money" she asked Martha with her hand open.

"My turn!" Andrea continued "5" she moved her piece and let out a sign. "Thank the goddess that one is mine"

Then it was the turn for Magy, to say she was having a luck streak was one way to put it, since she got a lot of places in the board.

"Before I roll, can i buy some of those fancy things?" she asked

Martha took a look at the manual "Ahhhh... yes, it says here you can buy them now and place it on any place you have"

"What do they do?" Andrea asked

"Mmmm.... you get to charge x1.5 the amount you are charging now if they land in that place"

Margaret's eyes started to shine

"Then I'll buy it! How many can I buy at once?"

“No. Absolutely not. You do that, and we’re done.” said Byrd

A tense air filled the library, as they were having a battle of wits.

Slowly Margaret raised her stack of fake paper money and at the same time Byrd rose from her seat.

"I'll buy 3" Magy said looking at her friend in the eyes.

"ARGGGGGGG!!!" Byrd screamed flipping the table on Magy's direction.

The other two just stood there, a bit surprised. They could not say they did not saw that one coming.

Laughing, Margaret said "For the record, I win"

But she quicky stoped when she saw Hanneman standing there watching the four of them. Needless to say, those four spent all afternoon organizing the library over his watch as a punishment.


	10. How you do it?!

It was that time feared by students and exhausting for teachers.

The exams period was here.

This time, teachers decided it would be a cool idea to mix students for common subjects, so they would not cheat, or at least, not as much.

As fate would have it with this four, they happen to get their reason test together that day, and even got to seat together by fate.

Byrd was nervous. Is not that this was her weakness, but it wasn't her best either.

Margaret was having a mental debate with herself, Martha was murmuring... a song? either way, she was in her own world, and Andrea was just preparing her writting tools.

Why did this one had to be a written test? Wouldn't it be better if it was practical?

"Ok students, you can start now" Hanneman said behind the desk of the classroom.

She could do it, she can do it.

Byrd looked down on her test and started to fill it out, smooth and slowly, taking her time, untill she reached a part where she had to write?!  
It wouldn't be a problem, if she undertood the question in the first place!  
  


"Ok, no problem, I'll see what Hyphen's wrting" turning a bit to her left.

Unfortunately, she could not read a thing because Hyphen's arm was in the way. But she did caught a glance of Magy having an idea and writting really fast.

"Man, I wish it was my time to have the ideas here"

Turning to her right, clear as day, Andy's writting was laying over there.

Reading the first lines she was getting an idea of what she had to write, but soon she was attacked by a little zap that came from Andy's hands.

Looking at her in surprise, Andy just let out her tongue, and continued to write.

What else could she do than just wing it at this point?

In a blink of an eye the test were finished and the four were now in the dining hall having lunch.

"Byrd! what was that just before?" Andy said as they sit

"What?" she asked

"You know!, didn't you studied?"

"I did! I swear on Räul, but that question, I could not understand even a word of it!"

Byrd starded eating and she looked up "How do you do it? studyng I mean, how do you get your grades?"

"I do study just a bit before exams, but the night before, I have intense sessions" Andy said proud of herself.

"Makes sense, that's why we cant never found you the day before" Magy continued. "I do study as well, but I don't always go to the exam empty handed" She winked to Byrd "Altough most of the time i never use my secret weapon"

"Oh! I didn't knew that!" Hyphen said "I just read the night before and the morning of the exam, but I do try to pay attention in class. I find it easier to do"

Byrd starts thinking midway to her chewing.

"Maybe I'll have to take some parts of your book to better mine!"

"Well, we don't have anything for tomorrow but we have a heavy day the one after that, so good luck" Said Andy


	11. I'm gonna ace it!

She did prepared! She got her weapons ready and was about to ace those tests.

Faith was first in her list and she was so ready!

The test arrived to her and she wrote answers like the was illuminated by the goddess herself! Or maybe because some "holy words" were craved in this "holy pencil".  
Manuela was a bit impressed butshe said nothing.

Right after that Byleth arrived to the classroom and gave them a test on a different subject, good thing for her, her holy pencil still had the wisdom she needed, but she had to be careful. Cheating in from of the professor and getting caught was worse than fighting 15 bandits alone.

Lunch time had arrived and after that she went back to the classroom to beat another test. It was the turn for strategy.

She noticed people from other houses entering the golden deer classroom. "Oh right, this was mixed" she thought as she took her seat.  
"But it looks like this day luck is on my side" She said to herself with a smile as Martha sat on her right.

Well, no one said luck was only favoring her, as the test had some written parts that she had trouble answering. Trying her luck, she turn a bit to the right and could see the diagrams Hyphen had made but she forgot that her handwritting most of the time was a mystery for her, it was a bigger mystery how the professors managed to read it on bad days.

Anyway, she would have to wing that writting part and just try to get those diagrams right.

She was tired at this point, why do that had to have 4 exams today? At least she did not had to change classrooms like others.

Finally the last one for the day was here, but were was her morning luck? why did the last exam had to be Seteth's?  
  


The moment she saw Magy, she sat at her side and winked at her.

This should not be hard, it was a flying exam, and she had a lot of experience with Räul, but for Sothis grace, why did it also had to be some pegasus fyling related topics? Seteth was supposed to be on her side on this one.

At this point, she felt Magy kicking her a bit and making a signal with her hands. "Change!"

This was new, Magy? trying to cheat in Seteth class? Could she sense her confussion and distress? maybe she needed help with the flying sections? Who knos, but she was not going to throw this opportunity.

Being super careful, when he was walking on the other side of the room, as fast as thunder they exchanged their papers and filled as much as they could with little hand preassure, sure Seteth can be distracted, but he was no fool.

"I'm done, no more please!" Byrd shouted ater the exam

"Let's just go to our rooms and sleep till tomorrow" Magy added

"I'm in. But let's get some food first"


	12. Maybe not right now?

"I'll do it, no problem" Martha said

"Yes!" her three friends saind in unison. "Then we'll let you be for a while" Byrd said.  
"We'll be back!" Magy said.

Martha took a deep breath, preparing herself for the task at hand.  
Cooking was something she enjoyed, and being in the blue lions, she had level up her game exchanging tips with her friends.

Altough this was a bit different than normal. The blue lions were asked to do an extra mission that day and ended up missing dinner time in the hall. Martha's 3 friends from other houses knew it and decided to wait for them to eat as well just to spice things up a bit, altough it wasn't that easy.

What was the challenge here? Just a meal for 9 house students, their professor, 3 more guests + being alone.  
She insisted to do it alone; as a thanks for her friends but also because she needed it. When was the last time she had the time to just focus on this? She had to take this chance.

To her, she had all the time in the world, but also knew that that many hungry humans also had a patience limit and she was not having any of that.

But that wasn't an excuse to bring down her game. She thought a bit on how to make something for everyone and started.

Starting for a classic and the most time consuming one she started doing the dough for several servings of sweet bun trio; as she let the dough rest she startes cutting onions for a big caserole of onion gratin soup, followed by some pheasant meat that was avaiable on the kitchen to make a couple of sadwiches, derdriu-style fried of course and other type of vegetables for a stir-fry.

She was in her element, stiring this, moving that, having small taste test from time to time and separating dishes to add certain spices for those that, like her, like the food to have added flavor. Not like it added any difficulty to what she was already doing.

The now clean, refreshed but still hungry batallion started their way to the dining hall from the courtyard.

"Can you hear that? it sounds like a batallion is fighting over there" Andy said to the blue lions that hosted some golden deer and a black eagle

"More important..." Ingrid started and the golden deer joined her in unison "It smells really good, even from here!"

As they entered the dining hall, they could see a table set up with a warm soup, vegetables and some sandwiches.

"Ah! just in time" she said taking a tray from the oven. "Go ahead and eat, there are some extras if you want more"

As she was taking another set of trays out of the oven, she was surounded in a hug by the big group

"Hey!" She said surprised lifting the trays up in the air "group snuggles are great but I'm baking over here, guys"

Everyone started to eat and chat with eachotherabout the day and about the food.

Finally sitting to have diner along side her friends she let out a sign "I'm so tired, I won't do this alone anytime soon". She had some soup and then looked at Dedue, Ashe and Mercedes. "Altough Im really relaxed now, I hope at least one of you to help me next. Please"

She got smiles in return, enough for her to continue eating the soup she had in her plate.

It was nice to see people she like so much enjoying the things she enjoyed making and even asking for seconds and even thirds. Was this feeling the one the fantasy books described as a "warm family"? She had no clue, but it was surley something she would not mind experimenting again in the future.


	13. Why are you hiding that?

"Magy! Magy!" Andrea came running towards Margaret like she was being followed by something terrible

Magy was about to enter her room when Andy stoped right behind her, fighting a bit to catch her breath.

"Hey, hey, what's going on?" Magy looked at her worried, ready to use her axe against anyone.

"Help me hide this, quick!" She said uncovering what she was carrying in her back.

In the dark bag she was carrying there was a lot of cans and bags what had a distinctive aroma.

"What's this? Have you joined the Abyss market?"

"No! please help me hide this" Andy said in a hurry.

Magy opened her room's door and let her in.

"But what are you doing?" She said closing the door

"I'm cutting off Hubert's coffee supply" Andy answered hidding some cans in her room

Margaret was about to ask something but stayed quiet

"At this point, he is ruining his health and thats bad, but he is also making some mistakes lately"

"And?"

"And?! As much as I want to, I cant help Lady Edelgard with everything myself. I need him to feel better, so she is hapier!"

"Ah, there it is" Magy answered almost laughing. "I was in because I thought it was a joke to Hubert, but damn! Now I have to do it for you!"

"And that's why you love me fam. Now help me, we dont have a lot of time, he'll follow the scent of coffee"

"What, is he a dog of something?"


	14. This wasn't in the plan

"So, you are in or what?" Claude saked with a mischievous smile.

"Well..." Margaret said looking at him.

"Ah come on, its gonna be fun!"

"Ahh! you win, I'm in!" She answered with a smile and got up from the table.

For a saturday morning, it was late enough to be planning any pranks, and even more for the target of this one. Let just say that not everyone would like to get on his bad side.

But that was exactly what the duo was planning. How to make Seteth laugh at best or just show more emotion at worst.

The traps were in place, thanks to Claude's mischievous ideas and Margaret's knowledge of the stable and its surroundings, now all they have to do is wait until Seteth walked passing the gardens so they could laugh and feel the glory or run for their lives.

Hiding on a safe spot bahind the stable, their two heads peaking, waiting for the exact moment it will happen. Everything was in order, everything was good.

"What are you two doing?" a voice said from behind them  
  


Well, it seems that not everything was going acording to plan.

Seteth asked the two students from golden deer, making them jump in surprise. And such an unnexpected one that Margaret had actually taken some steps back making her lose her balance.

"By the Goddess, are you ok Margaret?" Seteth asked walking towards her to help her stand up.

As she was reaching out to his hand, Seteth quicky grabed Magy and pulled her towards him, making her avoid the cold water that was now lying in the place were she was laying before, aparently she had activated some part of the tramp in her way down.

"Wow! Where did that came from?!" Claude let out with a surprised tone but a neutral expression.

Claude may be seeing the situation from all angles, but Magy could not focus even at what she had in front of her.

She was still facing Seteth in a very close up fashion and she could not move while a red flush was appearing in her skin.

"Who would have left that bucket there?" Seteth said to himslef while examiing the "scene of the crime" without letting her go.

"Is a mystery Seteth, we just got here but could not see anyone, right Magy?" Claude said looking at her with a smile.

As it if was a magic word, Seteth reacted and let go of Magy.

"Ah! Sorry Margaret, I didn't realized" he said in an apologetic tone

"It...its ok" Was her almost silent answer

"Well, I'll go see if anyone saw something. Be careful. Specially you Margaret, if something hurts go to Manuela" Seteth said and walked towards the dining hall.

"Let's go to the infirmary Magy, I think you got a case of love fever" Claude said and started tu run, behind him a still red Magy wanting him to keep his mouth shut.


	15. Around the campfire

The opportunities the student had to be together as a one big group in something that wasn't training of missions were few and far from eachother.

With the passing of generations, tradtions were made between students, and one of those that this year student's decided to do tonight was the get together at the campfire.

The students were sitting or laying around the fire; some got snacks to share, some were serving tea to others and some were making sure everyone was having a good time.

Being near the entrance of the monastery the place where they could start a fire without any trouble, it also meant that they were also being looked for by the gatekeeper; him being always a familiar face they saw everyday, they shared tea and snacks with him in exchange of keeping any secrets they could launch out laud in secret. and they had his word.

Later during the evening, when even the night was still young and the youth wanted more thrill, was when games started to appear, dares were done, and when secrets started to being shared.

_"Who was the one that broke the materials?"_

_"Tell us how you burned the kitchen!"_

_"Was it him who had told the merchants that?"_

_"There is a rumour out there that...."_

_"I was the one who let all the pegasus free that night"_

And it would be impossible for young hearts to talk about love, altough everyone agreed to skip the student group, just to void ruining the night feeling uncomfortable, so it began.

"Ok, so, who do you think is good looking from the people of the monastery?" Asked Dorothea to the group

"What do you mean exactly?" Leonie said

"Just who you think is hot. It doesn't mean that you like them, just that you think they are attractive" Sylvain added.

"I'll start" Dorothea said.

Changing her position, she listed some men what could be seen around the monastery and when she finished, she passed the turn to someone else.

_"Who is she?"_

_"Isn't he the one that is always...."_

Then the turn Andrea came.

"Me?! now?!" She said nervous

"Yes! share! share!" Lysithea said excited.

"Well... I do think professor Manuela is beautiful and her voice is beautiful" She finaly said with a pink tone in her cheeks.

Some nod in agreement, and Dorothea added "But of course! she is as beautiful as a rose!". And now Andrea joined the nodding students.

What she did not noticed during the small exchange was that Edelgard was looking at her with all her attention, and when she said Manuela, her expression turned to the face of someone figuring out a complicated text and then it turned to one of surrender; but she was not alone as Hubert was doing the same just some places afar from her.

_"The merchant?!"_

_"Ok, but listen, they have nice features"_

Margaret was next and to her surprise, more people seem interested in her answer than she would have liked.

"So... who" Ingrid said due to Margaret's slow start

They waited for her answer, and she knew they would not let her be until she said it. At least she wasnt the last one on the list.

"...Seteth" she said in a tiny voice that grow at the end "I think Seteth... is quite good looking"

It felt nice to say it, at least that vage response was good for now.

Some were procesing their thoughts only for they to say "Oh... I can see that".

It went better than expected

_"They are handsome!!"_

_"I love their eyes"_

"Your turn Martha" Marianne said

As soon as she heard her name she took a sip of her almost cold tea as to tink on how she would say it, but she knew it would probably looked like she was avoiding the question.

 _Well, it would be better to be direct about this, right?,_ she tought. She drank her tea and just said "Jeritza!" with a smile.

About to turn and see the reactions of her friends to her confession, she quickly turned her atenttion to Mercedes when she said "Oh my! that's interesting" followed with one of Mercedes usual smiles, which she returned.  
  
Their house leader would need to thank Mercedes later, as she prevented her to look at him and his chain of reactions, and probably he wasn't the only one.

_"She always is by the pond, right?"_

_"Who was that again?"_

"OK, me" Byrd said excited to tell her pick.

"I don't even know who he is, or where he usually is... in fact I've only seen him once"

"Then how do you know?" Ashe asked

"Well, I saw him right?. He was wearing grey, and was tall, had dark hair and was really muscular... Man, I wish I knew who he is"

"What a mystery!" Bernadetta said

"So, if anyone sees him again, let me know, ok?" Byrd said to everyone

_"I've heard her wife is part of the knights"_

_"They are so cool"_

"But you know who is the best of the best no questions asked?" one of them asked.

He has been telling them news, recent events, holding up lost items they had left in the area, and even covering for them from time to time.

He has truly taken a spot in their hearts.

And after a moment of silence all of them said in unison "Mr. Gatekeeper, you are the best of the best!"

All he could do from his post was raise his cup of tea in their direction and smile at them.

They were good kids, and he hoped they continue to have this type of reunions in the future.


	16. Late night coffee

The sound of pages passing from one side of the book to another, the sound of quills over paper, the sound of light murmurs and the soft light of candles were the things filling up the library that late at night.

It had been a long day for both, and since both returned to the monastery, they had been in the library researching.

They way the enemy use that spell, it was one thay had not seen before and both were in a hunt for it. If they knew what it can do, they would knew how to attack against it; helping her friends, but ultimately helping Edelgard

Andrea and Hubert had been flipping pages left and right, their only break was for a quick dinner, which they ate on their way back to the library from the dining hall. They were at it non stop and their bodies were not having any more of that.

Stretching in her place, Andy let out a tired sign and a yawn, which got his attention from across the table.

“I’ll take it from here and let you know what I discover in the morning" Hubert said looking at her.

“No sir, I’m not gonna let it all to you, it would not be fair” she said as she finished rubing her eyesbehind her glasses.

Stuborn as they both were in this regard, there was no point in keep that argument, it would just drain their energy more.

Standing from the table and grabbing the two empty cups that were there, Hubert left the library. "I'll come back soon" he said before he dissapeared on the corridor.

Andy gets back to the book in front on her to continue her reading.

When Hubert returned to the library, he saw Andrea sleeping soundly over her notes. Just hovering over her, he could see that she had finished that book's chapter, that was good.

Leaving the two cups on the table, he turned back and placed his jacket over her and returned to his seat.   
Looking up at her he reach out to grab her glasses and get them out of their way to avoid any damage.

_Is nice to have someone that also regards Lady Edelgard in a high spot. Makes things less complicated._ He tought to himself.

Searching for where he had stoped reading and grabbing his quill, without taking off his eyes from the book, he said “I’ll let you sleep for a little while, after I finish this chapter I’ll walk you to your room"


	17. I rule here

"What are you doing with those trash boxes?" Margaret asked with confussion.

"Isn't it obvious? A fort!" Byrd answerd not looking at her, focused on her work.

"Leave that, let's go do something else"

Byrd kept stacking and cutting the light wooden boxes.  
She turned around and threw one into Magy's hands.

"If you join me, we'll rule this wooden fort together" Byrd said with a serious tone

“.....Move over, we need more terrain to rule” Margaret was now as focused as her friend was.

\------------------------------

Hyphen was walking through the field of the monastery and stoped when she saw the wooden fort covered with colorful fabrics. She was about to leave it be when she heard familiar steps.

"Hyphen!, have you seen the girls? I need to ask them something" Andrea just let out after she reached her friend.

"No, I haven't seen..."

At that the sound of wood hitting wood interrumpted her.

A box move from the fort and two heads pop from it.

"Andy!" both shouted

"Come join us!" Magy said

"We can eat till we explode and read all we want, no stinky rules here!!!" Bryd said

"We'll rule together!!!"

Andrea had a a big smiling face.

"Did you hear that? I'm gonna be royalty!"

"What are you doing here your magesty? Your castle awaits" Martha bowed to her and pointed towards the fort.

Andy walked towards the fort with a happy aura. and Martha kept walking.

"Let me in! Let me in!" She could heard Andy saying in the distance.


	18. Catfight! Catfi...wait, a fight?!

The training field was painted blue today as the blue lions house was over that space.

Strong and loud metal noises from the center of the field alongside some screams and cheers.

Loud enough to grab the atention of the two deers and an eagle that were passing by.

As they were feeding their curiosity walking towards the field, the noises and screams went louder.

"Ahhhhhh!!!"

"Ha!"

"Hit me!"

"Another!"

Getting closer they spotted for a brief moment Ashe carring some swords, running as fast as his legs let him with determination in his eyes. They followed quickly until they were interrupted by a running Felix cutting their way.

"Move!"

He was carring lances?! what for?

Curiosity was now pulling their hair, this could not be ignored for long. Running as fast as they could towards the practive field they noticed right away something was wrong.

Not only was the aura of the place a bit tense, but they were divided, like 2 different teams had formed.  
  
On one side Dedue, Ashe and Mercedes. And in the other Felix, Sylvain, Annette and Ingrid.  
And on the field, Dimitri and Martha, clashing the metal of their weapons at a fast speed.

"Why are they fighting?" Andrea asked Sylvain as he was the cloes to her when they finally stoped.

"Ah, hi girls" He greeted them, and that's when they noticed that he also looked beaten, in fact, taking a glance at all the lions, all of them showed bruises and cuts, clearly they had been doing this for a while.

"We were at class talking about trivial things, but it turned into..."

"Food taste and habits!" Ingrid interrupted him "And I don't care if they make the most delicious food, they are wrong about that!"

"Goddess..." Margaret started "Does that mean that..."

"Mom and dad are fighting!!" Byrd said holding her friend's arms

Their reactions were cut by the sides screaming at eachother.

"That's no way to eat that!" "You can't just eat that!" 

"I wanna eat what I want when I want!" "Why you don't want to even try it?!"

"I won't follow any of your rules" "You have to cook it!"

With a loud metal sound the three of them turned their attention to the center of the field

"Why do you guys even care that much?!" Dimitri said as he aimed her lance towards her.

"Are you guys blind?!" Martha answered as she was blocking the attack.

Preparing for the next blow, she positioned her sword in place, but it would not be enough for his crest had activated in a unlucky moment for her and making his attack more powerful than before.

Metal shards flew across the field and her hands, joining with the rest of unusable parts of weapons already on the floor.  
Covering her face with her hands as she moved away from the sharp point of the lance she heard him say "Are you ok?"

"This ends here!" She hold onto the lance and manged to make him fall and threw the weapon away.

Both in the floor, Mercedes was the one to break the silence "Now that we all have calmed down, let's get patched up" and she smiled to her friends.

Andrea already there helped her with some magic to make it faster.

"So, why were you fighting about?" Magy said looking at the magic healing her friend's hands

"Oh I'm still mad about it. They can't just skip meals for days just because "I'm busy, let me be" type of things"

"Sounds like it was bound to happen" Byrd said.

"You think? well at least we have let it out and now that know we can and will force feed them if needed. I mean, what if they get sick because of that? If they fall in battle because of it? No sir. No on our watch".

"That's a lame way to die. I wont happen to us" Felix said.

"Then fucking eat instead of wanting to train all day" Martha said to him.

"Oh you wanna solve it on the field?" a smirk on his face.

"Bring it."

Dimitri walked between them "Calm down, maybe other day?" he smiled at both of them.  
  
"Ah... ok." A small blush apearing on her face "But we still have unfinished bussines, mister "I don't think I deserve this food""


	19. Achoo!

She was on a solo duty again, her class had to cover extra tasks for some staff were deployed on a mission.

Not that it bother her. She now knew this place very well.

"Hello everyone!" Margaret said opening the doors to the wyvern stable and getting her supplies.

She made the wyverns move out of their places one by one, and when she reached Raül's she started to talk "Sorry buddy, it's just me today. But Byrd will be here later"

As soon as she finished a happy roar came out of his mouth. "Remind me to tell her to brush your mouth. When was the last time she did?"

Magy cleaned their spaces one by one. Taiking the dirty contents out and filling it with new ones, filling the food containers and leading the wyverns back to their respective place.

She always leaved Raül's for last, maybe because she could talk to him a bit? maybe because it was a friend? who knows.

As she finished empting his place, he let out a big sneeze, loud enough to startle her.

"What was.... Holy Goddess Raül, that was new!"

Returning to her task, she was now filling his food container when she noticed his nose.... was it itching?

Before he could let it out she quicky said to him “I swear if you sneeze on me, I won’t be your friend anymore!”

Raül turned towards his space and let out a sneeze bigger then the previous one, making everything in his space and the one on his side messy again.

"RAÜL!"

Looks like Magy will be taking more time than usual today.


	20. Clip

There she was, making sure this tea time would be nice and fitting for her.

Her mind was racing as fast as Raül when food was mentioned. Did she picked her favorite tea blend? Was she a fan of cookies or little sandwiches? She got both to be sure. Was her uniform on point?

But who could blame her, it was the first time she would have a tea time with just her. Just her and Edelgard.

Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard her familiar voice.

"Greetings Andrea, thank you for inviting me"

"Lady Edelgard! Thank you for accepting"

If you had told her that there was nothing to worry about, she would had worried double, but now that she was there, enjoying the moment, listening to her stories and laugh she would had believed you if you told her there was nothing to worry about.

"Lady Edelgard, do you remember those flowers we saw at the market the other day?"

"Why the sudden change in topic? but yes, I do. They were lovely don't you think?" Edelgard took a sup from her cup before continuing "I wish I had bought them"

Andra stoped being worried some laughs ago, but now she was nervous. Was she doing a good or bad thing? She wished she had some little guardian at her shoulders to guide her.

"Ah you see, I also thought the flowers were pretty, but when I returned they were already gone"

"What a shame, I hope their owner appreciates their beauty as well"

She was nervous she was now playing with the paper bag she had now in her lap.

"S...so I...." Curious soft lavender eyes now looking at her with confussion. "I made something for you".

Edelgard's lavender eyes now looking at Andy's hair as she looked at the floor while givig her the tiny paper bag.

Where was her little shoulder guardin to tell her what Lady Edelgard was doing? She was to nervous to look herself. Had she done something wrong?

The princess took the little bag and emptied it's contents in her hand.

Out of the bag came out a hair clip adorned with small purple wooden flowers. One could tell it wasn't made by an expert hand but it was still beautiful. Beautiful enough for the future emperor to stare at it with a soft smile.

"Did you made it yourself? For me?"

Andy turned back, face covered in pink "Y...Yes. But you don't have to use it if you don't want."

"But is so pretty, more than the real ones at the market".

Taking some of the hair that rested at her side, she opened the hair clip and secured her hair in place.

"How does it look?" 

If Andy could stoped time, she would do it in this exact moment.

"Beautiful" was the only world that left Andrea's lips

"Thank you Andy. I'll treasure it"


	21. Then your name will be....

"That's a fine young wyven" Seteth said examinating her companion.

"Right?! He is so beautiful and strong!" Byrd said with all the pride in the world.

"If you don't mind me asking, how did you to met? Is uncommon for students to already have a wyvern before coming to the academy"

"How we met? I'll gladly tell you professor"

****

My clan is a diverse one, and the place we're stablished is no exception.  
We have a few rivers, mountains and some dry places as well.

Playing with my sister, running around was my everyday rutine, and one day doing that I saw a tail.

I was no strager to wyverns, as they were some owned by my people, but this one was different; it didn't had any markings or any cloth to idenity it. So of course I had to follow it!

It went up some mountains and slowed down when we arrived to the dry zone; that's when I noticed it was injured.

I was waiting for it to stop or something, you know? to help. But it didn't.

I saw the wyvern enter a little cave and when it came out it had an egg on its mouth, but as soon as I was beginning to walk towards it, the wyvern kept walking with it.

Can you believe how stuborn that lizard was?! I was there to help, or at least get some help and it doesn't want it!

Anyway, I had this feeling to look inside the cave as well, and when I did, there was a single egg there. So I waited.

Luckly for me, since I was little I never go out exploring without a snack. Am I inteligent or what?

I sat there with it, I mean, the mom or dad kept walking all this time never stoping, so it would get back for the other egg.

Right?

But it was almost night; no parent wyvern, no more snacks and I did not want to get scolded by mine.

So I took it, wraped it around with one of my belts and went home.

I still got scolded by my parents for returning late with an egg. But they must had seen something because after a couple of days they accepted it.

But they didn't helped me take care of the eggy, how rude of them. What a funny way to treat my child; aren't grandparents supposed to dote on their grandkinds?!

We spend some days watching the sunset, reading books, taking naps... just my little egg and me. I even introduced him to the wyverns of the clan.  
Proud parent since day one.

And one day, I woke up from the daily nap only to found the egg moving. It was hatching!!!

I remember I screamed for my mom and then stare at it all the time.

You could see the little scales! his little feet! his little wings!

And then I saw his little face.

I fell in love.

I had no other thing in mind, and his name just came out naturally

"RAÜL! YOU ARE SO CUTE RAÜL"

Byrd and her egg was no more, we were now Byrd and Raül, Raül and Byrd and whomever wanted to damage him would have to go through me first!

****

"That is truly a nice story" Seteth added

"It was professor! And you should had seen it when he flew for the first time! I cried so much. Or when I first ride on his back Oh the memories"

"That bond is truly a strong one"

"No one will ever separate us. He is the love of my life"

Raül let out a gentle roar in agreement.

"Raül! I love you!!!"


	22. Bedroom - The case of the Scholar

A room can be a safe haven...

And it was the case for Andrea.

It was the place where she could be herself without thinking about other's opinion.

She liked to keep it clean and tidy, in her mind, who wouldn't?

Her room had the standard bed and red carpet showing her house; the desk is always filled with magic books and covered in paper containing notes about them, the wall at the side of the desk was burnt, probably the result of her practicing old and new spells.

Her wadrobe had a couple of uniform sets and the rest was filled with confy clothes in warm and pastel colors.

She had a nice view from the upper levels of the dormitory, something she could appreciate every day when she woke up; and in the base of the window, a couple dozen of soaps in different shape and forms that gave the room a scent of almonds and coconut, a scent you could smell in her if you hug her early during the day.

As calm and nice as she could seem, and as heartwarming as her room may seem to the untrained eye; no one knew about the other kind of books she had at her name; books she would not dare to show to anyone any time soon adn that were hidden under her bed during daytime.

Books about powerful and dangerous spells, well yes, but those were but a couple; the real reasure this dragon guards everynight are other kind of books, the ones that talk about unprobable scenarios in a romance setting, the wackiest couple in the most silly scenario, lovers that defied stereotypes and were againts the world, tales of forbiden love, steamy situations and the most hilarious outcomes. All different but her treasure all the same.

She had been in the Fhirdiad School of Sorcery for a time before learning that Lady Edelgard would be studying at the Officers Academy. She moved heaven and hell to mange a place at the Academy as well; and on the day she moved, she felt the smile of the goddess upon her when in a normal curiosity movement she saw the name of her neighbors " _Hubert_ " and " _Edelgard_ ". Could she be ever more lucky than she was today?

  
During her first nights at the academy, before classes even started, she had a lot of trouble sleeping, in her mind, who could when you have the future Emperor in the room next to yours?! Lucky again for her, the walls were no paper thin, so she was 99% sure no one could ever hear her heart beat like crazy.

She loves being in her room during daytime, when the sun shines throught the window and looks like the sweet scent of her room gets accentuated, and at night she loves reading by the moonlight or candle light with her confy clothes that make her warm in cold nights.

  
Truly her room was a safe haven for her


	23. Bedroom - The case of the Refugee

A room can be you own little world, if you want to...Margaret was decided on that 

It can be a place where you rest, where you work, and it could be your little piece of home.

Her room had the bed turned to match her philosophy of design as well as her yellow carpet, her desk filled with tools and random papers.  
Altough what most called for attention were the wall decorations she had in place, a part from home in this oasis.

Some she had taken with her, some she had made herself, mostly during the time before classes had started. No matter who it was or how many times she had already told the stories and meaning, she was happy to talk about them and her homeland.  
  


Her wadrobe had uniform sets as it was expected and a wide range of clothes for the "crazy and unpredictable climate" as she would have it at times.

She could not have a sunrise or sunset view from her window being in the lower levels, but what her room lacked in that department, it made up with its nice location; near to the pond.  
She could go out easily if she wanted, came back unoticed.... at times, and have a nice view once she opened her door.

A perfect location to let out the meat scent smoke from her room join the one from the dinning room close by.

A smell of burnt coal and wood filled her room more often than not, confusing the noses of profesors, but not the stomachs from hungry students; as she constantly had "asada parties" in her room disguised as just wood and carbon carving... how she has managed to not get caught by the Academy staff is still a mystery to her

Margared had modified more than just the bed position. When she arrived at the Academy, she noticed some wooden planks were not in place in her room's floor; as she was about to report that, she was hit by the reflection of something... metal like.  
Using her tools, we set herself to work and found a tiny handle, subtle to be hidden under the rug, but big enough for her hand to be able to get a nice grap on it.   
  
Curiosity killed the cat, or in this case, it gave the cat a new place to hide.

Pulling the handle, a decent size storage space revealed to her, as well as a big smile in her face, now she was game.

The day she arrived she noticed the names on the rooms at her side " _Mercedes_ " and " _Lysithea_ " names she had never listened before, but with a nice ring to it,hopefuly they could be nice friends later.

As time passed and she added more decorations and had many happy memories with friends in her room, it bacame more than a little piece of home, she had manged to transform it into her little world where the rules were hers and hers alone.


	24. Bedroom - The case of the Trader

A room can be a lot of things, even a base of operations; and Byrd planed to use it to its full potential.

Her room had the bed and the yellow carpet in the default setting, but her desk was filled with papers containing diagrams, numbers, and some doodles; all looking to be part of a mayor plan, at the side a little painting of her tribe, and just on the inner side of the door, a big portrait of Raül and herself looking as happy as ever.   
  


When you opened her wadrobe, she had hanging different types of objets, all of them her "trading contents", and in the base of the wadrobe, folded as neatly as one could were her uniform sets and some general clothes, all scent by the little pile of hand made scenters she had made for Räul.

  
When she first arrived at the Academy, she had gotten a room in the first floor of the dormitory; something that seemed logical for everyone, and a good place for her, as just taking a step outside we was eally close to the stables where Räul would be kept. 

But this sharp mind trader will always look for the best deal, and double if it was beneficial to her.

Just as she was about to recieve her room, she asked if all the rooms were filled for the classes period.

"All but one on the top rooms, as a noble had decided to come in the next cycle"  
  
"How can I get that room?"

In her mind, it was a better thing, sure she may not be as close to the stables now, but she could get information from people watching from the top, and Raül could come flying to her, which was better for him, right?

It was not easy, and she even had a quick reunion with profesors just to settle this, but she would no give up this easily on this.

All it took was for her to help clean the stables 3 times a week during her stay, easy right? she did that for Räul every other day, how more complicated would a whole stable be?

While her closet smelled like a fresh scent, the rest of her room had the aroma of incense and soft perfumes. Byrd was a smart trader, and that would only increase if she could have nice and rare scents for her room, she even started to gather ingredients and made some in her room in her spare time, for sell of course.... and for herself as well.

She noticed she had someone called "Marianne" and "Ingrid" at her sides, if she moved her cards right, she could gain some trading connections at best, at not so worst, she could gain more friends... a win win scenario

  
Her place to craft, to store, to sell, to sleep and to plan new adventures. Byrd really used her base of operations to its full potential, and she won't stop there!


	25. Bedroom - The case of the Bastard

A room can be a place where you can leave your mask and feel free...

And Martha used her freedom in her way

Her room had the bed right on the corner of the room and the blue carpet in the center of the room; the desk looked unorganized with all the different things it had, but a closer look and you could see that different contents were in their own groups, a bit of organized mess if you will. The walls had different paintings and some dents, probably from indoor training.

Her wadrobe had her uniform sets, clothes she got from home and a single snow coat, all of them hanging neatly.

Her room being in one of the ends of the dormitory did not have sunise view, but sunset, a thing she appreciated a lot, since in her words "that's when the sun is truly enjoyable"

  
She knew this room from way back then, she knows its bad points, its good ones and where it can keep her secrets if she is ever in need. Not bad huh?  
  


She made sure, maybe unconsiously, of turning this place into one she could do whatever whe wanted. Each section of the room a different island for different passions or hobbies. in a corner were her painting supplies, in another cooking supplies and tools, books in another, old quills and ink bottles in other place... you know the drill, all of them in order in this "chaos"

One thing that did not changed constanly was the aroma, the room had 90% of the time a nice citrus scent, where lime was the predominant element; how so? she did not fully know. The rest of the time, it smelled like some diluent, like how Ignatz smells on ocation after painting for so long; but she rarely notices that, claiming that "it always smells like this, like citrus, isn't it?"

The only thing not in her island tour, and only reach out on ocasion, were the boxes she kept under her bed, where she kept mementos of points in her life; both good and bad.

She arrived pretty early, there were barely any students to fill a classroom, but well, she'll manage, it would take no time for this place to burst with life.   
When she got her room she stoped the staff that was with her.

"Excuse me, is this right?" she quickly looked at the names beside hers "Fraldarius" and "Blaiddyd" "Why is my room in this section? I mean, I'm a girl after all"

"Ah yes, the administration thought that it would be easier to register everything in almost the same way as your predecesors, so...." he checked her papers "You will be in the same room as your sister and brother had been"

"Huh..." a slight sound that escaped her lips "well, makes sense, I think" she said looking at the name in her door.

She gets into her room activities that is when it finishes that she hopes she isn't bothering anyone, well she has not recieved any outside complaint yet, so it must be good?   
Being able to use and enjoy her time and freedom, in her own terms was a thing she always looked forward when arriving at her room 


	26. The cart*

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one is a very special chapter as it was written by Birb themselves!!!!!!

"So, is this all the left-over wood?" Hyphen asked. 

Margaret was still counting the long planks of cedar that were being delivered by the monastery helpers. They were in pretty good condition, but the wood had been accidentally stained by a careless apprentice, thus making them unsuitable for public display.

The monk in front of her gave a nod. "I know it's more than you expected, but hopefully you'll be able to have some use for it. Seteth is excited to see what you come up with." 

And with that daunting remark, he turned around and left, helpers trailing behind him. 

Margaret wiped her hand on her uniform pants and walked towards her friend. "Maybe you shouldn't have told Seteth about your woodworking skills…" 

"Oh, come on. It's nothing we can't handle!" Hyphen said, trying to ignore that nervous knot that was tying up in her stomach. "Besides, we have all day to figure out what we're going to do. Want to get some lunch before we get started? " 

"You absolutely know I do." 

And with that, both of them made their way to the dining hall. 

\--------

Byrd was extremely busy trying to balance a small tower of carrots sticks on her plate.

"You know, it's bad manners to play with your food..." Andy absentmindedly murmured as she turned a page of the book she was reading. 

"I hate fish sandwiches so much," Byrd grumbled as she added the third level of carrot beams. 

A strong slap on the table sent the carrot structure tumbling down, leaving Byrd with a lap full of vegetables.

"Hey friends! Can we join you?" Hyphen boomed. Margaret sat down as she set down two trays and scooted next to Byrd. 

"Gross, you're such a messy eater" she teased. 

"Ugh, whatever…" Byrd rolled her eyes and took a bite of her sandwich. 

"Well, you're in a good mood, aren't you?" 

"She's just pissy because they ran out of beat meat teppanyaki" Andy replied without taking her eyes off her book. 

"I WOS REAL' LOOKIN' FO'WARD TO IT, A'RIGHT?" Byrd screamed with her mouth full, earning some concerned looks from the students on the next table. 

"Couldn't you just go to one of the restaurants in town?" Hyphen asked as she took a bite of her peach sorbet. She deserved a nice meal before the monumental task she had ahead. 

"No. Seteth got mad at me for teaching Flayn cuss words in Almyran so he revoked my town visits"

"WHY would you even do that?" Margaret asked in between bites. 

"She asked ME! She wanted to know what the tradesmen were saying!" 

"You dug your own grave, Byrdie" Andy sighed.

"Well, how about you negotiate with him?" Hyphen asked. 

Byrd set down her sandwich. "Ugh, I already tried. He said the only way he would let me off the hook-" 

"Hahaha fishing jokes." Margaret interrupted. 

"Keep it in your pants, Margaret!" Byrd groaned. "Anyway, he said he'd only remove my punishment if I ran some errands."

"So? That doesn't sound so bad!" Hyphen exclaimed with confusion. 

"Maybe not to you! But I have to buy wyvern food. For the whole week! Do you know how heavy those sacks are? I can't carry them on my own!" the Almyran was waving her arms wildly in anger. 

Suddenly, Andy looked up from her book with a sly smile. "Hey. Why don't you ask that strong handsome man you met in Abyss to help you out?" 

Margaret gave an amused hoot when she saw Byrd's face turn beet red. 

Hyphen simply observed as her friend tried to babble out an excuse. 

"H-he's probably busy, ok?? B-besides, it's my punishment and Seteth was clear about that!" 

Andy just smiled, content with the mischief she'd caused, and returned to her book. 

Hyphen suddenly got an idea.

"Byrd! I know how we can help you!" 

\----------

They'd been at it for hours now. Andy guided the girls as they assembled the pieces. Martha and Margaret did most of the heavy work, sawing the wood and hammering where it was needed. Byrd had been tasked with stable duty, so she hadn't been able to help, but as soon as she got back she gasped at the sight of her friend's hard work.

"It's- it's beautiful." she gasped. 

The cart was sturdy and big enough to carry plenty of things. They had used some replacement wheels from other carts and the cart itself had big stains here and there. Still, anyone could see it had great workmanship and since it was to be used for errands it didn't need to be pretty. 

Hyphen wiped the sweat from her brow. "Glad you like it! I'd offered Seteth to fix something up with the leftover wood, so this was the perfect opportunity. Now you have something to help you with your errand and we have something to donate to the monastery. It's a win-win" 

"And now Seteth won't strangle you." Andy pointed out. 

"Goddess, I wish he would." Margaret whispered. 

"MARGARET SHUT UP"

\-------

The girls had agreed to meet at the monastery entrance the next morning. It was extremely early, but it was necessary, since the wyvern food usually sold out fast.

"I should have just accepted my original punishment," Byrd said groggily. She was most definitely not a morning person. 

Unfortunately, Hyphen was 100% a morning person. 

"Come on! We can do this! Seteth even allowed us to come with you!" 

Margaret was busy counting a small bag of gold. "I'm only coming with you because I want to buy a new axe at the market" 

Andy was sitting in the cart, shoulder bag full of books. "I just think morning trips are nice."

"Ugh, fine. Bring over the horse so we can strap the cart." Byrd sighed. 

The girls stood silent for a couple of seconds. 

"Actually-"

Margaret interrupted. "Seteth didn't give us permission to borrow a horse. He said it was your punishment and you should be thankful for getting a cart in the first place."

Byrd stood in silence, groggy brain still processing the bad news. She finally snapped out of her trance and frowned. 

"UGH" 

Suddenly, her demeanor changed. She had a mischievous glint in her eyes, which rarely meant good news.

"Gals… get in the cart" 

Andy immediately jumped in alarm. "Byrd. No." 

But the other girls had stopped listening. They hurriedly jumped in the cart while Byrd wheeled it in front of the steep road ahead. 

"Byrd yes." 

And with that, she pushed the cart and jumped in as it started to roll down the hill. 

The cart sped along the road as the girls screamed. It was still too early and the path was mostly empty, but they had still managed to scare the living daylights out of a sheepherder. 

Byrd whooped wildly along with Hyphen and Margaret. Andy, on the other hand, was holding onto the cart for her dear life. She was screaming out of fear instead of glee, unlike her friends, who were laughing like maniacs as the cart rushed down the road. It was the bumpiest ride in the history of Fódlan, but it was probably also the fastest. The cart was practically flying down the path. 

However, their laughter stopped short as soon as they saw the town entrance in the distance. 

Margaret was the first to ask the obvious. "How the fuck are we going to stop?!" 

The cart was still barreling at high-speed towards the town and it had no sign of stopping anytime soon. If they kept going at this speed, they were definitely going to crash painfully. 

Hyphen grabbed her friends. "Everybody jump!" 

The cart sped past as they landed on the grass. They rolled down the hill until they finally came to a stop and managed to stand up just in time to see the cart crash into a pile of hay, narrowly missing a passing shop vendor. 

The girls stood up and brushed the grass and dirt from their clothes. 

"Well, at least we didn't die…" 

Andy gave Byrd a bonk on the head with the heaviest book she had. "If Seteth hears about this, you're going to WISH you had!" 

Hyphen had already made her way to the cart and she was pleasantly surprised to see that it hadn't broken at all. Maybe she was a better woodworker than she gave herself credit for. 

After some lengthy apologizing to the market vendors, they eventually made their way to the wyvern supplies and bought five sacks of wyvern pellets. Raül absolutely hated the stuff, but he still ate it. After all, gluttons can't be picky eaters. 

Five sacks of wyvern food and one axe later, the girls were ready to head back to the monastery. Except there was one problem. 

The girls looked up at the steep road ahead. 

"We're never going to make it back… " 


	27. Baby Blue Eyes

"You are free for today, but don't forget you got an assigment to work on." The professor said leaving the classroom.

"Finally! Time to go" Sylvain said leaving his seat

As the Blue Lions chatted and picked their things ready to go, Dimitri held Martha at the door, with Dedue just in front of them.

  
"Hey, I just want to confim that you can make it to the library today to work on the assigment" He asked with a calm tone in his voice

"Oh, yes! nothing has changed" She answered as she tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear.

On the distance 3 pairs of shoes were making a fast approaching sound towards the classroom, but slowed down when those 3 were spotted by Dedue and gave them a smile

"...see you there then" Was the last strand they get to listen before the boys left the classroom and they entered fast.

"Yo Hyphen!!... Are you ok?"

She had a soft expression in her face, and that got her friends the door open to attack

"We saw that what was that about?" Andy started  
"Are you guys going on a date?! Hell Yeah!!" Margared followed  
"Dish girl, dish" Byrd got closed to get all the details possible

"Is not that, we going to work on this thing the professor wants us to do"

"Yeah... work" Magy said with her smug voice.

A laugh filled the classroom "Is not that... Byrd? what's wrong?"

At the sound of her name, she looked at her friend "Well, you are a noble, right? And you are from the Kingdom.... So how do you know the prince? Did you knew him already?"

"Of course they know each other before the Academy, is clear my dear" Andy said adjusting her glasses.

"Well.... I bet that if you ask him he would have a different version than mine" Hyphen said as she sat in a near table 

The three girls found places to quickly sit "Story Time!"

"But why different? What's up with that?" Magy questioned

"Even if he knew my family already from long ago, I'm pretty sure he would say we met for the first time during the period before classes, as we both came here quite early before others; at least that's the version I've heard him saying" Hyphen stated

"Then what's your version? What do you remember?"

"It was quite some years ago"

\------------------------------

We were little... It was winter, and my father was summoned to by the King to report on some tasks he had, so he took the three of us and went to the castle with him. " _It will be a nice opportunity_ " he said.

Midway through the ride, snow started to fall and so when we arrived a nice coat of snow was on the floor.

We met the King and after that the adults had to talk and talk for hours. I followed my siblings, but quickly they went separate ways ready to explore the castle and I was left alone in a yard.

  
It was not my first time seeing snow fall, but it was my first seeing it in a castle's garden, I cleaned a nearby seat and looked at the sceneary. I remeber thinking something like _Beautiful._

I was in my own world when out of nowhere tiny steps entered the garden and there he was; little Dimitri looking for something... and then I met his eyes. a clear yet powerful blue that, mind you! I had only seen once before, on the King!

I remeber he asked for my name and looked together for the room where the our dads were discussing boring things to deliver something in a paper, I can't really remember. After that we played and he showed me around.  
I can't blame him for not having that in mind, I had always been calm, and was more silent as a child.  
  
Yet, we would not met again until some years later...When the tragedy happened.

\------------------------------

"Wait, you were there?!" Andy could not believe what she had heard

"I was not there threre, you know?"

"Then? How?" Byrd asked.

\------------------------------

Although it is something important... that happened; what we were doing was aiding as much people as we could...

Is not truly my place to talk about it....

But as for the second time we met, he was already with Dedue and were sitting on the outside of a camp we were aiding. I... I just went with a box of supplies and helped them change bandages, but at the time, none would move. Who could blame them? No one.

I helped by carring food to them, and just sat there as well.

I might have read them a lot of books becuase I was always with one.

It broke my little heart, but I was the only one of the same age there, and if I could help I would; until they eventualy returned to the castle with a caravan of survivors.

\------------------------------

"And that were the two times we met before arriving here" Hyphen got up and got her things. "I don't blame him, nor Dedue. After all, who would remeber such a quiet child at such a young age and come on, your mind is on other things that second time"  
  


"I mean, yes, but does it feel weird when you hear the other version?" Magy asked with genuine curiosity

Her face turned into one that had just figured a puzzle "I.. Wel- mmmmmmm.... maybe? at times? I just didn't thought of it like _that_ before"

Magy was about to say something more when she was interruped by a metal hitting a wall just outside the classroom

"Let's go your Magesty" Dedue murmured as he grabbed a fighting Felix trying to escape his grab.

"Yes" Dimitri murmured back with an unreadable face as both walked fast towards the gardens.

"Anyway, thanks for asking" Martha said towards her friends.

"Oh man....Now I wanna hear Andy's and the Emperor's story" Byrd said

"Maybe over luch?"

And with that, the Blue Lions classrom was clossed for the day.


	28. From the sky*

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another special chapter!!!!! this time by Margaret herself!!!

It had happened so suddenly. 

Margaret struggled to keep and eye on the rest of the battlefield. Rain, mud, and blood hindered her sight, but she was still able to keep the enemies at bay and strike them down with her axe. 

“Rain of arrows! Take cover!”, yelled a soldier nearby. That was enough to snap her out of the fighting and look around to get her bearings. 

And that’s when it happened. 

Margaret looked up to the sky trying to see the arrows, but she noticed Seteth high up in the sky in his wyvern along with his battalion. They scattered to avoid the arrows, but Seteth wasn’t so lucky. He and his wyvern got shot out of the sky. 

Margaret looked in horror and let out a desperate “No!” and ran towards him with no second thoughts. She got hit on a leg on the way that made her stumble and fall down, but quickly removed it with a grunt of pain, got up and reached Seteth’s wyvern unceremoniously laying on the ground and in pain, but Seteth was not in sight. 

“Seteth!”, yelled Margaret as she circled around the wyvern to find Seteth unconscious and on the ground. He had fallen off the wyvern upon landing and had a couple of arrows stuck to him, one in his left shoulder and on his side. Margaret kneeled next to him and laid him on his back. 

“No, no, please, goddess!”, she pleaded as she confirmed he was still barely alive. She quickly removed the arrows and used a healing spell on him. It barely closed his wounds, as Margaret cursed her poor Magic healing abilities. 

“Seteth please stay with me, I'm taking you to a healer.”, she said, mostly to herself as she got up and sttuggled to walk backwards and carry his upper body while dragging his legs. But it did not take long for an archer to spot her and aim at her. Margaret noticed him and was quick enough to lower Seteth onto the ground but not quick enough to avoid the arrow that hit her left shoulder. She grunted it pain as she stumbled and quickly got hold of her hand axe and threw it with all her might at the archer. Thankfully, it hit and the enemy fell dead, letting Margaret pick Seteth back up and resume her quest, now wincing in paint as her shoulder bled even more with the effort of carrying him back to safety. 

That were probably the longest minutes in Margaret's whole life. She felt like she had been carrying Seteth for eons until she heard a familiar voice call out in a desperate manner.

“Father!” 

Margaret looked  where the yell had come from to see Flayn running towards them. 

“Flayn, thank the goddess! Please! Seteth needs healing!” 

“Lay him down.”, said Flayn, and Margaret kneeled down and put Seteth’s head on her lap. 

“I wish I could’ve done more, my magic is very weak…” Margaret resenged as Flayn healed her dear brother. 

“You have done more than enough, Margaret. Look at yourself! You can barely stand, and yet you brought back my brother to safety. I could never thank you enough.” 

With that, a couple of soldiers arrived who carried Seteth back to a medical tent while Flayn stayed with Margaret, healing her wounds. 

“Flayn… may I ask you something rather personal?” 

“Oh, well… it depends on the question.” 

“Is Seteth your father? I heard you call out “Father” to him.” 

Flayn sighed defeated, “there goes the disguise. Seteth is actually my father, but we hide our identities by calling ourselves siblings.”

“Don’t worry, Flayn, I'll keep it secret. Thanks for telling me, and healing me.” 

“Thank you for saving my father, Margaret. You should retreat for now, you will not be able to fight with those wounds.”, Flayn said and got up. “I’ll keep healing the injured around here.” 

“Be careful.”, said Margaret as she headed back to the tents, mostly to check up on Seteth. 

Once there, she received medical treatment on her wounds. Meanwhile, the battle had ended and the soldiers were returning to the tents to be treated. She slipped into the tent were Seteth was and sat next to his cot. She kept going back and forth between what had happened and what could've happen if she hadn’t been nearby, or if she had been killed while trying to save him. She snapped out of it when noticing the green blood on his bandages. Green blood? That wasn’t human. 

“Oh, Margaret, what are you doing here?”, asked Flayn as she stepped inside. 

“I'm just… worried about him.” 

“He will be alright.”, said Flayn, sitting down next to Margaret. “Or could it be you actually have feelings for him and you won’t be able to continue living if he passed away?” 

Margaret could do nothing but look away with her face completely red in embarrassment. 

“I only jest.”, laughed Flayn as she looked towards Margaret and realized. 

“Oh! Oh my! It is true! You do have feelings for him!”, said Flayn excitedly. 

Margaret struggled to make up a lie, only to have Flayn more excited by the minute. 

“Ok, ok, you got me. I… I might have a small crush on him.” 

“One does not simply risk their lives to save someone they have a small crush on.” 

Curses, she was smart. Margaret could just look at her defeated. 

“Do not worry, your secret is safe with me.”, she said, patting her back to avoid her injured shoulder. 

“You both have matching injuries, isn't it romantic?” 

Margaret had to laugh at the comment. “It is not.” 

With that, Seteth finally woke up, groaning in pain. Both women got up to check on him. 

“Brother, are you feeling well?” 

“Everything hurts…”, he replied, rubbing his eyes and looking at Flayn. 

“It should, you probably have two or three broken ribs.” Flayn continued. “if it were not for Margaret here you might have not made it, I shall be back later to check on you.” And Flayn left, letting them have some alone time. 

Seteth watched as Flayn left and turned to look at Margaret. “I suppose a proper thank you is in order-.” Seteth stopped himself and tried to sit up. “I-I need to throw up.”

Margaret quickly reached for an empty bucket and sat beside him to help him on his side. Seteth took hold of it and let everything out, while Margaret held him and removed his hair from his face, noticing his pointy ears in the process. 

Seteth lowered the bucket to the ground and wiped his mouth. 

“Please excuse this, I'd rather you had not witnessed this.” 

“It's ok, you don’t have to feel ashamed.” Said Margaret as she helped him lay back down. 

“May I ask what happened to me? I believe I fell?” 

“Yes, you did. Horribly. It rained arrows and both you and your wyvern got hit. You were unconscious and wounded when I reached you.” 

“You risked your life to save me. I'd be willing to bet that's the cause of your injuries. That was reckless of you, Margaret.” 

Margaret could only look away as she was being scolded, when she felt something touching her face. Seteth tenderly caressed her cheek. 

“You could’ve died, Margaret… my life is not more important that yours. But thank you nonetheless. I owe you my life.” 

Margaret felt her face become red, but that didn’t stop her from holding his hand in place and smiling sweetly at him. She really had feelings for him.

“I probably care a little too much for you, Seteth.” 

“I could say the same.”


	29. Hypothermia*

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another great work from Magy!!!!

Whoever thought marching through Faerghus in the middle of the winter was a good idea is definitely mad. 

Margaret despised the cold. Sure, in her homeland temperatures can be rather extreme in both ends of the spectrum, but this was a different type of cold. This was humid cold, and it felt a lot colder than dry cold. They had been marching for hours now, it wasn’t long until they would set up camp for the night. Margaret just had to walk for a little bit longer and she would be able to rest and drink something warm sitting next to a campfire, ideally speaking. She felt herself getting more tired and slow by the minute, staying awake was taking all her willpower. 

“Just a little more.”, she tought to herself. 

Seteth was marching in front of the convoy, his wyvern following close behind. The cold didn’t bother him as much as it did humans, but he still had to wear warm clothes. He was focused on the path in front until a familiar voice called out to him. 

“Hey Seteth!”, yelled Catherine as she walked up to him. 

Seteth halted for a moment to let her catch up and kept walking with her.

“Do you need anything, Catherine?” 

“I've been looking everywhere for Margaret and thought ya might know where she is. I want to hear some of her stories from Sreng, walking gets real boring pretty easily, ya know?” 

This alarmed Seteth quite a bit. “Are you sure she's nowhere to be found?” 

“Yeah, I practically walked through the whole convoy. I was told she was in the back but it seems not.” 

“That’s not a good sign. I'll go look for her.”, Seteth said, and moved over to the side of the road and walked to back, looking for Margaret all the way and asking if someone had seen her. Until he reached the end and asked a soldier if they had seen her. 

“Oh, sir. I guess it's been a while since I last saw her.” Said the soldier looking around. “She was pretty frustrated with the cold.” 

Seteth thanked the soldier and let him keep walking. He looked towards the road the convoy had come from. Had she been kidnapped? Attacked? Margaret wouldn’t disappear just like that. He quickly got up on his wyvern and flew back the way they camed, hoping he wouldn’t find her, or if he did, that she would be safe. But fate wasn’t that kind. He spotted her blue coat and brown hair in the middle of the snow and quickly commanded his wyvern to land and jumped off as soon as it touched the ground. 

“Margaret!”, yelled Seteth as he reached her and pulled her out of the snow and into her arms, quickly realizing how cold she was. This had to be a very, very cruel joke from fate. 

“Goddess, no! Margaret, please, please wake up!”, he pleaded while removing her hair from her face. And just then, Margaret woked up and groggily looked at him. She looked so out of it. 

“Margaret, thank the goddess! I have to take you back immediately, you need medical help!”, he said, removing his coat and putting it around her. 

Meanwhile, Margaret was half awake with a silly smile on her face and kept staring at him. Seteth was more alarmed than confused at her reaction, and swiftly got on his wyvern while holding her tight against him. 

“It won’t take long, hold on, Margaret.” 

“I’m fwying…”, said Margaret in her dazed state. 

“Yes, we are flying.”, he said, considering it best to keep her conscious despite her curious and barely understandable comments. 

It didn’t take long for Seteth to reach the convoy who were just now setting up camp. He landed near the medical tents, where Manuela was supervising the setup. 

“Manuela, I need your help!”, yelled Seteth as he got down, carrying Margaret in her arms and covered in his coat. 

“Oh, my, what’s wrong?”, she asked. 

“Hypothermia, I believe”

“Come inside, this tent is empty.”, she said, pointing to a nearby tent and signaling a healer to bring blankets and warm water. 

Seteth stepped inside and laid Margaret on the cot. 

Manuela quickly got near to check on her, “Margaret, how are you feeling?” 

“I wonna sweep…”, Margaret said trying to get comfortable. 

“Don’t you dare sleep on me, Margaret. Seteth, help me take off her clothes.”, she said and immediately began removing her armor and clothes. 

“W-what?! Shouldn’t a female healer do it instead?”, Seteth said embarrassed. 

“Shut up and hurry, Seteth, this is no time to be all pious.”, Manuela scolded him and kept on working on getting Margaret’s wet clothes off. “I hope you don’t mind, dear. Your life is in danger.” 

“yeah… this weiwd…”. Margaret being in a daze was being surprisingly cooperative. 

Seteth reluctantly helped Manuela take off Margaret’s wet clothing, doing his best to not touch nor stare. Not the best situation for someone in his ranking to be in. May the goddess forgive him. 

“Now you take off your shirt.”, Manuela demanded. 

“W-WHAT?!” 

“Skin-to-skin contact, Seteth, come on.”, she said as she covered Margaret in a blanket. 

“I-I cannot posibly do that! Why don’t you do it?! You're a woman!” 

“Because I have other patients to attend to. No one will see you, Seteth, it's her life we're talking about here.” 

Seteth stared at her in desbelief for a moment and sighed. The goddess would never forgive him now.

“Alright.”, he said defeated and reluctantly removed his shirt. 

“Keep her head covered as well, I'll go check on the others.”, and left the tent. 

Seteth saw her leave and looked at Margaret for a second and approached her. 

“Please forgive me, Margaret, I'm only doing this to save your life.”, he said as he laid down next to her. 

Margaret, despite her daziness, was absolutely delighted to have him so close and, even better, shirtless. 

“Wowwww… dis a dweam? I lide this dweam”. She, said?, Clumsily trying to hug him. 

“A dream? A nightmare I hope.” He answered, as he hugged her against his chest and covered her well with the blanket. Gods, she was really, really cold. He really was laying with a naked woman in the middle of an expedition. He'd rather be dead than feel this embarrassment. He kept circling the thought of being a sinner and a disgrace in his head. 

“So hansum…” 

“…what?, He asked, snapping out of his overthinking.

“you’re so hansum…” 

“…handsome…?” 

“yesh...”

“I… what? You think I'm handsome?” 

“Yesh! So vewy vewy hansum!” 

“I… uh…thank you.”, he said, feeling even more embarrassed now with this new compliment. 

Manuela came back with a couple of blankets and warm water. 

“How is she?”, she asked as she poured the water in a cup. 

“Delirious” 

“That’s normal in hypothermia cases. Sit her up, she has to drink.” 

Seteth carefully sat Margaret while Manuela helped her drink. 

“thankiu”, Margaret said and smiled at Manuela. 

“it was nothing dear, lay down with prince charming here.” 

Seteth could only shoot a look of “don’t” at Manuela while Margaret cuddled against him again.

Manuela put another blanket over her. “Do you want me to ask Catherine if she'd like to take your place?”

“Don’t. Just… please don’t say anything, Manuela.” 

“Don’t worry, no one will come in here, you focus on keeping her warm and awake”. And so, Manuela stepped out the tent. 

“dond say wat?”, asked Margaret. “are we shawing secwets?” 

‘what?” 

“Secwets… i have a secwet”, she said proudly. 

“you have a… secret?”, he asked, trying to guess the words.

“yesh… i have a cwush.” 

“A what?” 

“im in love…” 

“Oh, a crush, you mean.” 

“Yesh. A cwush. He's vewy hansum.” 

“I see.”. Oh, to be young and in love, he thought. 

“Id’s Seteth.” 

…

...

“Wait, what? Seteth what?” 

“Seteth is my cwush.”, said Margaret smiling to herself. “He’s so hansum and kind. And gween and stwict.”, and kept talking unintelligibly about him, she seemed happy.

Seteth could only listen in desbelief. I mean, it made sense, she always offered to help him with paperwork, and was always there to listen to him and allowed him to be frustrated and rant on about anything. Not everyone would be willing to listen to Rhea's second in command be frustrated, he was someone people looked up to. He felt conflicted by Margaret’s confession and the state they were in.

“Maybe I shouldn’t be here.”, he said as he sat up , but was stopped as Margaret put her arms around him to stop him. He felt a chill run across his back when her cold hands touched him.

“Pwease don’t go.”, She pleaded. 

“I… alright. I'll stay”, he said defeated and laid back down and hugged her. 

Margaret was delighted once again, she spent several minutes humming to herself. Seteth felt like she hummed forever though. 15? 20 minutes perhaps? Until she gradually stopped and removed her arms from around him.

“Margaret?”, he asked, trying to look at her face. 

Margaret looked up at him wide-eyed and her face flushed red. 

“Oh, you look alive now. How are you feeling?”, He asked, placing the back of his hand against her forehead. She felt warmer now. 

“I-I…”, she cleared her throat and struggled to brave the words out. “W-why are we… naked? 

“You do not remember? You were dying, the cold was too much for you.” 

“I see… I'm a little confused… where are we? 

“In a medical tent. Do you remember the half hour at least? 

“Kinda? My memories are foggy.”

“I think that is for the best.” 

“Why?” 

“Well… just know that this half hour has placed us both in very embarrassing scenarios.”

“oh gods, did I do something stupid? Did I SAY something stupid?”

“I wouldn’t call it stupid.”, he reassured her.

“I wish the earth would just swallow me whole”, said Margaret as she covered her face with her hands and quickly removing them when she felt them cold. 

“What’s wrong?”, he asked. 

“My hands are really cold…” 

“I’m not surprised, you almost died from hypothermia. Lend me your hands.”, he said as he took hold of her hands in his and pulled them close to his mouth, exhaling warm breath on them. He did this a couple more times and lowered her hands without letting go of them. 

“Is it better now?”, he asked to a now tomato-faced Margaret who struggled to keep her composure. 

“Is she warm yet, Seteth?”, said Manuela stepping inside the tent, to which a panicked Margaret quickly pulled her hands away and Seteth tried to dissimulate the situation. 

“Oh? Did I interrupt something?”, said Manuela with a sly smile. 

“N-no, no. She's feeling much better now.”, answered Seteth, sitting up and out of the blankets, covering Margaret well in the process, who was coping with her embarrassment underneath the blankets. 

“i see you brought her clothes.”, he said as he reached for his shirt and coat and got dressed. 

“Oh yes, I got a mage to start a fire and dry them. They are warm, dear, come out and get dressed.”, Manuela said, putting them on a chair next to her and then looking at Seteth, “Do you mind? A lady needs her privacy.” 

“Oh, right away. Excuse me.”, said Seteth as he hurried outside the tent. 

Margaret peeked out of the blankets to see a very excited Manuela staring at her. 

“Now what’s going on between you two? You HAVE to tell me.”, said Manuela, pulling another chair nearby and sitting down while helping Margaret get dressed. 

“Oh no…”, thought Margaret, seeing as she had no way to escape this interrogation. 


	30. Thanks to the cold*

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Magy is on a roll lately!!!

“So, you two seemed really close, anything going on between you two? I promise you I can keep a secret.”, Said Manuela as she handed Margaret her clothes. 

“You got it all wrong, Manuela, it's not like that.”, Replied Margaret, putting on her undergaments while still below the blankets. 

“Oh, please. I'd be willing to bet you two have feelings for each other. Besides laying with you to warm you up, he stayed with you longer than he needed to. And once you regained your composure you still allowed him to stay with you.” 

“Well, I… Alright Manuela, you win. I… I do have a crush on him.”, said Margaret defeated. She sat up and reached out for the next piece of clothing. 

“oh, hoho, I didn’t think you'd be into older men.”, teased Manuela. “I'll admit he's handsome, but he's so uptight it's frustrating.” 

Margaret couldn’t help but laugh a bit. Manuela was right. Still, Margaret found it endearing somehow.    
  


“So, have you told him how you feel yet?” 

“Of course not. He probably sees me as a colleague, a subordinate. I was his student as well, that probably makes me too young for him.” 

“Well… you do have a point. Although I don't think he sees you as a child. You're a young woman. A beautiful young woman. And if he can’t see that, he's missing out.” 

Margaret chuckled. “Thank you, Manuela.” 

“Don’t worry, your secret is safe with me. You should get something to eat, preferably warm. And keep out of the cold, try to stay inside the tents as much as possible.” 

“I will, thank you again, Manuela.”, said Margaret and finally headed out of the medical tent. 

But Manuela being the doña chismosa she was, had to hear Seteth’s side of the story. She found him checking in on the soldiers in charge of supplies. 

“Seteth, you seem pretty busy.” 

“Hello, Manuela. Not much, just checking that everything’s in order. Do you need anything?”, he said, not taking his eyes off his notes. 

“I just wanted to ask you about Margaret, you know… her behavior, anything I should be aware of… just to make sure her health is alright.” 

“Oh, of course”. He put away his notes in his pocket. “Well, first of all she was completely out of it when I found her. Confused but like… well, she acted more like a drunk person. I'm pretty sure you are familiar with that.” 

“You didn’t have to remind me, you know. But this isn’t about me. How did she act, or what did she say?” 

“Oh, uh… I don’t think it's my place to tell you. She did call it a secret.” 

“Should I be worried? Is it about her health? Or perhaps something emotional? A mental illness?” 

“Oh, no, no, nothing to worry about… I believe.” 

“You do not sound very convinced.” 

“I guess I should tell you, umm… just, keep in mind it’s a secret.” 

‘Of course.” 

“Well… she confessed to having a crush on me.” 

“Oh, what a surprise”, she lied. 

“I was surprised as well… I still am, in fact.” 

“Are you going to do something about it?” 

“Such as?”

“Do you not feel the same?” 

“Well, I… I do care for her, and I appreciate her friendship and help. I just had never thought of her in that light before.”, said Seteth, now pondering.

“You both seem to enjoy each other's company.”

“I do, actually”. He reassured her. 

“Then what are you waiting for, Seteth? You won over the heart of a young maiden, are you really not going to do anything about it?” 

“I… I shall give it some thought.” 

“Alright. I'll leave you to your work, dinner smells delicious.”, said Manuela and left him be. She followed the scent to the cooking tent and stepped in. Low and behold, Margaret was there helping with the cooking. 

“Margaret, what a delight to see you as if you didn’t almost die like two hours ago.” 

“Oh, hi, Manuela. It was warm in here so I thought I'd help out. Want to be the taste tester?” 

“I'd be honored, it smells really good.”

And so, Manuela tasted the stew and gave some pointers here and there to really make it shine. 

“Margaret, I wanted to ask you a bit more about you-know-who.”, Said Manuela, finely chopping some herbs. 

“Oh? What about him?” 

“I genuinely believe you can win his heart.” 

“oh, Manuela, after today I do not think I can look him in the eye.” 

“Why? You mean because of laying with him or what you said?” 

Margaret shot a shocked look at Manuela. 

“What did I say?” 

“Me and my big mouth”, thought Manuela. “Oh-oh, nothing” 

“…Manuela”

“oh, fine, fine. I talked to him, it turns out you actually confessed your feelings for him while delirious.” 

“w-what?!”, Margaret said horrified. “Ugh, now I really can't look him in the eye.”, she said, sniffing and wiping a couple of tears away. 

“Oh, no, no, don’t cry, darling.”, Said Manuela as she hurried to wipe her tears off. “I think it was fine, it at least got him to ponder about how he feels for you. You were true to your feelings, and if he can’t be reciprocate that’s his problem. So don’t cry, alright?” 

Margaret sniffed once again. “It’s the onion.” 

Manuela looked down at the cutting bored to see some finely chopped onion.

“Oh, and here I thought you were crying because of a man.”, said Manuela, cleaning Margaret’s face. “Men do not deserve our tears.” 

Margaret laughed. “You are right.”, and poured the onions into the stew. “Still… I can't believe he knows... How am I supposed to even talk to him now?”

“I’m telling you, there is hope. Bring him a bowl of stew, the fastest way to a man's heart is through his stomach.”, said Manuela, as she poured two bowls and handed her them. 

“Are you sure?”, Margaret asked, taking the bowls. 

“Of course! Now off you go. Shoo.” 

Margaret left the tent and headed to the storage tents, looking around for Seteth until she spotted his green hair and went up to him. 

“Seteth.”, she called. 

“Hm? Oh, Margaret.”, he said as he put away the list of supplies. 

“I brought you some dinner.”, said Margaret, handing him the bowl. 

“Thank you.”, he said while taking it. “These crates are sturdy enough, we can sit on them”. So he did and Margaret followed. They ate without talking for a moment until Seteth broke the silence. 

“I’m glad to see you well, Margaret. You had me really worried. I did not think the cold would affect you so much.” 

“Me neither. I don't want to think what would've happened if you hadn’t found me. Thanks again, Seteth. My memories feel so blurry, like a dream almost.” 

“You said something like that when you were delirious.” 

“…It's not the only thing I said, right?” 

“Right… you did say some interesting stuff.” 

“…should I apologize?” 

“Not at all, it has actually made me think about things between us. I enjoy your company, and I appreciate all that you do for me. I actually feel rather foolish for not noticing sooner, it was obvious.” 

“I'm not a very good liar nor actress.”

“And I'm as dense as a rock, by the looks of it.” 

“So, any chance you'll fall in love with me?” 

“I’d say there's a big chance. I seem to catch myself thinking of you once in a while.” 

Margaret’s heart was about to burst. “Would you… maybe… perhaps… like to give a relationship a try?” 

“I’d like that.” He answered, taking Margaret’s hand and kissing it lightly. “Please don’t take this the wrong way, but I'd like to keep it between us for now.” 

“Manuela will pry the details out of us, you know?” 

“The longer she goes without knowing, the better.” 

“Alright.” 

And then they finished their cold ass stew. 


	31. The Panel

It was Sunday morning in the Officer’s Academy; a lazy morning for everyone, well, almost.

It had become common for the students to host little events among themselves to fight the boredom that occasionally fell down the fields; and today was no exception.  
It was decided 2 days ago, that Sunday’s event would be a little session of questions and answers.

The students from all houses took over a classroom, used extra chairs and benches from a storage room, got snacks and beverages, and had the professor desk as the place to be for the one getting the questions; Ignatz even took the boards together and drew a background that complemented the setting and the one answering.

 _“No heavy personal questions, and they can reject something they are not comfortable with”_ those were the rules for the questions.  
As to give let them have some thought, the speakers had been chosen in anticipation and the questions for each one would be put on a box for the speaker to take out during their turn.

Ferdinand went first and gave eloquent answers, Annette sang a bit for everyone and Raphael had a blast answering questions involving him doing something for his sister.

It was a nice way to get to know everyone involved.  
  


Claude called the next one up to the teacher’s desk. “Cool! It seems we’ll be now hearing from Martha, _Hyphen_ if you will”

Getting up from her seat, and refilling her glass first, she sat at the desk.

“Ok, let’s see what you want to know” she said giving a smile to the public and randomly choosing a piece of paper from the box

_Favorite animal?_

“What a nice question, and hard to say who wrote it. Well, as much as I like dogs and cats or even the horses at the stable, I would have to say Panthers; they are elegant and powerful, truly amazing”

First question done; this was painting to be easy. Time to get another question.

  
  


_What is your reaction to seeing a Demonic Beast for the first time?_

Easy…. right….

“Uh… I don’t know how to answer this one”

“You don’t have to if you don-” a voice suddenly got interrupted

“Wait. Uh….” She started looking at the roof as if looking for inspiration “Well, we all have seen them… for me it was a mix of disbelief and panic; “How? Was that always how it was? What do we do? What will they do? They? It?” those kind of questions were in my mind and still are; you know?”

Another deep into the box

“Hahaha that was a nice question, but I wasn’t expecting it”

_Do you have an irrational fear?_

Taking a sip from her drink she began “Ok, so this was either Hubert or Claude, right?”  
She had some laughs from the ones listening.

“I don’t know if this is irrational, but I do fear dying alone in the cold; due to a storm, of falling into cold waters and my body not responding or being too tired to go on and end up buried in snow”

The room turned silent.

“I mean, those things with someone else are not that bad, I think so, but go that way alone, what if no one finds you.... So yeah, but I don’t know if it is irrational”

“Ok, ok; time for the next one”

_What were your training sessions before the Academy like?_

“What a cute question!   
A lot of you know that in Faerghus kids learn to fight before they properly learn to write; when I was little I wanted to try just lances like my sister but the day that I got to choose a weapon, I just went for the sword”

She stood up, grabbed a napkin to fill with food and returned to her seat

“But when lessons began I did give my instructor a big headache; attacking the training log with my little fist and defending myself from little rocks thrown at me with my tiny sword or attacking with both at the same time, changing hands when I should not, using the sword the wrong way and defending with my hands instead of with the blade… What a little trouble.”

“I take that’s why you can use a sword decently with your non dominant hand?” Edelgard asked

“Maybe so…maybe.

With time I trained with my fists and sword separately; what a relief for the trainers, right? But when I got challenged to a duel or something like that, by instinct I go back to my roots.

Still, my siblings and other masters beat me a ton on battles”

_Do you believe in the goddess?_

“I don’t know, at times I would like to think there is something bigger than us; but I don’t know if is the goddess, a lot of gods, or something we can’t quite picture yet.

If I had to say either yes or no, then yes. But I can’t ever be sure about either”

_Do you prefer cold or heat?_

“Cold! Cold!”

“But didn’t you said that your fear...” Leonie started before being cut by Ashe “But you love the sauna”

“Ah the sauna… things are so calm lately I think I’ll have a long run there today” She felt the long stare from those looking for an explanation to her statement

“Truth to be told, I don’t really mind either; but unless you reach a powerful level of cold, it can be pretty manageable without complications, while the heat gives problems earlier. I want to sweat when I want, not when the weather chooses to!”

_How do you get along with your brothers?_

How many more questions were left? She was having fun, but she did not remember the others having so many questions. Oh well.

“Well, I’m the youngest. You might have heard about my sister from some of your older siblings, but I don’t know if you know my brother…. regardless I would say is a nice relationship; I’m closer to my sister, and the three of us were quite close when we were little. I have a nice relationship with my brother, but nothing to write home about, especially now that I barely see him due to his knight duties. But at times it feels like I’m a single child due to how much I’ve spend alone; but I’m grateful for them, and…”

Just at that time, her face turned a bit gloomy.

“Well, next question” A perfectly practiced smile now in her face.

_What do you think about the professor?_

“They are quite nice! I like them! No problems and they have helped me develop my fight style, happy to have them here!”

_You find a kitten in your room. Do you keep it as a pet?_

“I would love to know who sent this one, maybe you can give me some tips.

I’ve seen a cat lately walking along the window, and at times it stops by my window. But the question said “in the room” so yeah, I would keep them as a pet, if they are not in rush to get out as soon as I open the door to enter”

_What was your reaction after your first kill?_

After reading the question she let out a laugh, gaining quite some looks

“Sorry…. haha…sorry, but don’t you think it would have been funny if this one had come out along the beast question? Hahaha... it would have been funny”

She took a sip from her glass.

“Ok, but I don’t have a fresh memory about it”

“So your first one wasn’t in that first battle?” Linhardt pulled through the uneasy sensation just to know more.

“They say it was conflict between territories and that somehow, an enemy soldier had been sneaking around our home. I remember that once he was discovered he managed to grab little me and screamed something, everyone froze and then a sound of someone running through the snow.

When he turned around I tried to let go by grabbing my sword and move it around, I must have cut him on the neck or the face because I remember warmth on my face and him letting me go.   
As he tried to move I think I panicked because I remember moving my sword left and right along with my fists until he stopped moving; I would not let him harm me more.

Next thing I remember was being surrounded by knights, my brother carrying me and the voice of my sister after that was that I wasn’t allowed to go outside alone for some months, even to the stables.

So, that’s how it happened, but I don’t quite remember my own reaction. They said that for a while I became a bit more serious and hugged others for longer with a blank stare”.

She took a bite out of a cookie.

“See? Now that’s why this would have been better sooner than after”

_What do you buy when you go to the market?_

“Maybe the one who wrote this question would like to go together to the market sometime? It would be nice, just let me know!

But to answer, I don’t really buy much. I usually go to see more than anything. I do get some snacks, tea, spices and ink.

When there is something I really like for sale I ask a lot of questions and save a little, sometimes the owners save the item for me for a while before I have enough; that’s really nice”

She took another question from the box, and immediately made a ball and threw it at Byrd’s head

“Hey! Wha- answer the question! It’s a nice one:”

_What do you think of Raül?_

“Raül is such a handsome boy, very loyal and a nice friend.

Is really fun when you ride him and I tag along, even better when you both launch me to land just in place to hit some faces. I hope it looks as cool as it feels hahaha.

He is really nice, such a gentleman from time to time, but also a funny adventure pal!”

“Thank you, he likes you as well” Byrd said

_Who taught you how to cook? Or are you self-taught?_

“Hey! Thank you for asking! Is actually a mix of both; some cooks at home taught me some recipes, but even if they were delicious, I always felt like they missed something; so I started experimenting, cooking wise; baking wise my book collection is a great treasure and I hope I can grow that collection in the future”

_What surprised you most about the Academy?_

“Hmm… who could send this one? I don’t know.

Truly I’m glad there is a sauna, but I was surprised by how calm it can be and how many mysteries are there yet to discover, like with Abyss!”

_Is there any physical work you DON'T like doing?_

“Ahhhhhh I don’t like things that involve running that much, I don’t like running.

But for tasks in the monastery I don’t like the stable; I prefer the rest; but I’ll do it if I have to… please don’t make me un less is necessary.”

_Did you like Abyss?_

“I’ll go ahead and say that Yuri wrote this one. But yeah! I like it!

What an adventure that was! Aside from that, there is something nice about a establishment in the underground, where people can find refuge and go out; a well knitted community. One would think otherwise, but I enjoy going there to take a break, so thank you for welcoming me there; I’m looking forward to the next tournament”

_Have you and Dima fought about something before?_

“Yes, next question”

She put her hand on the box and started to shuffle the papers still left inside.

“Ok, I jest. I know you want to know something, let me think…”

She didn’t seem bothered by the question, but Dimitri was a bit nervous, sure they had some fights before but nothing mayor, right? What would she say? She was the type that if you asked something personal, she would tell you without a problem 80% of the time, so maybe there was reason to be nervous.

“Ah! Last time we fought It was about sleeping habits,

You see, as many of you might understand, sometimes when you have something on your mind you only have that; well, that was me, but mix that with my usual sleep schedule and you have me fishing all night saying ‘good night’ to everyone, included Dimitri.

But I did not go to sleep right away, it was a bit past midnight when I did go to sleep…for hour and a half… near the stairs… but when I woke up Dimitri was on his way to the kitchen, at 2 -3 in the morning, is not that common, but well, he noticed me and started to say that this was not healthy and stuff, but all I could focus were the heavy bags he had under his eyes. Clearly someone was also avoiding sleep.

The friendly advice turned into worried scolding on both sides and before we knew, loud arguments about how “you should sleep more” and “you say that but you don’t follow your advice” were loud.

And that was the fight”

Caspar rose his hand “But how did it finished?!”

“During the argument I returned to pick up my stuff, Since I did not had the energy to fish now that arguments were thrown, even if for the other’s sake. Dimitri helped me held some things but when he turned around to leave, I got hit by my heavy bucket and fell to the water”

“No way!” Caspar shouted “He made you fall?!”

A red faced Dimitri had to intervene “It was a mistake”

“Indeed, it was an accident. I got to land and we walked after we exchanged apologies, I had to take a bath afterwards, but it was ok”

_Do you like to watch plays?_

“Yes! I prefer romance and comedy ones! I would love to see more, and get into some tragedies as well. I look forward to see Dorothea on stage some day!”

_How do you get along with the rest of the Blue Lions?_

“From my perspective, I think we get along nicely; but feel free to correct me if you feel otherwise.

I’ve known Felix for a while, we used to go on walks and he would always challenge me or we trained together; not much has changed; now we had tried to go horse riding instead of walking.

Sylvain is a nice guy, I’ve met him when I was a bit older, and he would always play board games with me and we would talk after eating; I’ve tired chess to play with him, but I’m a bit slow at that.

Funny enough I’ve known them separately, and heard from Ingrid before I even knew her, but I always thought she was a nice gal. And I wasn’t wrong, when we met we played a lot, now she chasses me as well for a bit of food, but that’s nice because It gives me a reason to experiment more

Dedue was difficult at first, but now I’m convinced it was only my imagination, When I first saw him I thought he hated me, so I kept my distance but one time I did hurt myself and he came to help me, I did not know what to say. Nowadays I enjoy just accompany him, because he always has interesting duties and activities

I met Ashe just before we entered the academy, but had heard from him from Lord Lonato during a conversation we had prior. I enjoy listening to his stories and cooking with him as well, we are working on a recipe that will be finished soon.

I’ve met Annette a few times during the meetings in the castle, but when she stopped going to those, we started to exchange occasional letters I met Mercedes though those letters, and with time, the letters looked more like a bulletin or announcements board than a conversation.   
I don’t know how they do it but they know a lot of trending things and I’m always willing to listen”

Reaching her hand onto the box and shaking it, she got a single paper out of it.

“Would you look at that, the last one”

_What are you plans for the next 5 years?_

“Five years sounds like a long time, but they sure go by fast...

This question is a bit hard, once more, I don’t really know. I would like to be on my way, to have finally discovered a path I can take; it would be nice to be in love as well, don’t you think? In love with a partner you can have mutual trust in any situation and who makes you happy, and maybe marry after those 5 years, but I’m getting ahead of myself.

I plan to travel for a while, and to keep in touch with my friends, of course, otherwise…. What if I die alone in the cold, or worse… in the heat; it would be a bit different if I do have a partner…but I know I can take over the world! Or at least I hope so.

I would love to see the festival! Everybody is going to come as well, right? I would love to see you and hear about your stories!”


	32. The little things

"You really care for him, huh?"

"Not more like the others; not more than Dedue, that's for sure" she said more for her than for the person she was talking to

"Is because you don't realize it... or maybe, that you don't want to"

“What do you mean?"

“Humans have subtle ways to avoid getting hurt, but also ones to get what they want"

“I don't quite follow you"

“Don't worry, you are young. You have plenty of time to realize"

That conversation lingered in her head for the rest of the day.

She truly cared for him but it was not someting from another world

Sure she had prepared tea for him last so it was warm for longer before, and sure she had taken a task or two off of his shoulders from time to time to help; but that wasn’t something worthy to write home about, right? The others would have done the same, right? 

She will have to ask around

————

“What do you think, does anything comes to your mind?” Martha had asked to her classmates during the course of the day

“Remember the other day when we were sharing the list of our favorite books? Two or so days later we went to the market and got a second copy of it as a gift to his highness” Ashe recalled 

“I just wanted to share my favorite story”

“I don’t know, but in my book that is a nice detail to have”

——

“You are a fool, you tend to take one of his tasks around the monastery from time to time” Felix said nonchalantly as he sparedher attack

“I just wanna help”

“Why bother doing that for the boar? You are just wasting you time, time you could use to train”

——

“I’m clumsy and destroy things from time to time; people sometimes get mad at me for that as well”

“You just have to be more careful Annette, but it’s not something to be mad about”

“Dimitri has a really hard time with delicate stuff and some people had just stoped their help when he breaks things for like the 6th time, but you had stayed until he is too tired or has succeeded. That’s admirable!”

“I am very patient, that’s all”

——

“I know you care about me because you serve me the biggest slice every time”

She smiled “It is only natural for you to get the fullest and biggest serves”

“But when we all finish and go, there are days that he is just arriving. You serve and stay there with some tea. I don’t know if you talk or not, but I know that food tastes and feels better when shared with other people”

——

“I must thank you, beforehand”

“Why so Dedue? I haven’t done anything”

“That may be your perception, but stoping your activities and paying attention when his highness is in need of a word with you is something I must be grateful for”

She let out a little laugh “Dedue, you make it sound like paying attention is a rare event” 

“Then you would be surprised”

——

“Oh my! I see” 

Martha tilted her head in confusion while looking at Mercedes 

“You do the things without looking for something. For example, when you started organizing a surprise birthday party for him, you did not said a word about yours until he asked when was your birthday and said that it had just passed; like nothing”

“I don’t see your point here, I wasn’t expected anything anyways and we were planning the surprise”

“Yes.... during your birthday!”

“Mercie, I don’t really see your point here”

——

“What is this?”

“What do you mean Sylvain?” 

“I’m just surprised, that’s all. But let me tell ask you ‘Who is the first person you say good morning to?’”

“Why the question? It does depend on who I see first”

“Uh-huh....” he put on a sly face on “Just keep me updated”

——

“What a day; that did not helped a lot. All they said were things I would do for them as well” she said as she entered her room and climbed onto her bed, face looking towards the wall that separated her room and the prince’s 

Was she processing all of the data just now? Or maybe she was just tightening the grip of her blindfold?

“Maybe I truly do” she said in her silent room

“But nothing is there for me, right? So why do I keep trying to enter?”

The soft sound of doors echoing on the hallway started to reach her ears; as they were closer, the sound was increasing, and when she listened to the loudest ones at her sides she faced to other way. 

“Whatever, nothing future me can’t take care of” she thought to herself as she closed her eyes 


End file.
